Ukraine: Pro-Russian Militants To Be Targeted In Renewed Security Operation

Right Sektor had nothing to do with a deadly shooting in eastern Ukraine reported by Russian media and pro-Russian protesters, a spokesman for the nationalist faction told CNN Sunday.
"The information that one of our members was shot it Slaviansk is false," said Borislav Bereza, head of the information department for Right Sektor.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said that they had received a report that one person had been killed in violence in Slaviansk Saturday night.
But Yarema Duha the press secretary with the NSDC said the report was not confirmed and they were seeking more information.
Video aired by Russian tabloid LifeNews claimed to show guns, money and a Right Sektor calling card taken from the alleged attackers on a makeshift checkpoint outside the eastern Ukrainian town occupied by Russian sympathisers.
"We don't have ID cards with numbers. We only have ID cards with letters, where we mention the department where the person works," said Bereza.
CNN called the number on the calling card and reached a woman who appeared to be surprised she was called and said that she was in Kiev and had no relation to anyone in Right Sektor.
Bereza added that it is the same kind of false information like the info reported by Vesti newspaper two days ago, that a Right Sektor member blew himself up along with a pro-Russian.
Bereza also told CNN that Right Sektor has been saying in the past few days that there would be provocations blamed on the Right Sektor and to be vigilant about such claims.

KIEV (CNN) -- Pro-Russian militants will be targeted in four key cities in Ukraine's restive east, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister said Wednesday, even as a contingent of U.S. paratroopers was due to arrive in Poland for military exercises prompted by the crisis.

Militants in the four cities -- Kramatorsk, Slaviansk, Donetsk and Luhansk -- have seized government buildings and show no signs of giving them up despite an international deal agreed to last week in Geneva, Switzerland.

Under the deal, illegal militia groups were to disarm and vacate occupied buildings, with an amnesty promised in return.

But the pact, aimed at easing tensions in eastern Ukraine, appears to be faltering five days on, with Kiev and Moscow each accusing the other of failing to live up to its commitments.

On Tuesday, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov also called for a renewal of anti-terror measures across the country, after a truce called during the Easter holiday, citing the discovery of two tortured bodies near Slaviansk.

One of the victims was politician Vladimir Rybak, the President said. He was a member of the local parliament in Gorlovka and belonged to the President's political party.

"The terrorists who basically have taken the entire Donetsk region hostage have crossed the line with torturing and killing Ukrainian patriots," Turchynov said. Such crimes are committed with the support of Russian forces, he charged.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said Wednesday that Rybak died as a result of injuries from torture and drowning.

Rybak's body was found Saturday, two days after witnesses said he was kidnapped by men in military clothing and balaclavas, following an altercation with protesters at the local city hall, the ministry said.

According to investigators, representatives of a separatist group involved in seizing the Security Service office in Slaviansk were also involved in torturing him, the ministry said.

A statement from a pro-Russian leader in Slaviansk, de facto Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, rejected the President's claim and blamed the deaths on far-right Ukrainian nationalist extremists.

Lavrov: Americans 'running the show'

Ukrainian and U.S. officials say they think Russian special forces are in the region and are behind efforts to seize government buildings and generally promote unrest -- a claim Moscow denies.

On the contrary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's state-run RT news channel Wednesday that the United States is calling the shots in Ukraine.

As proof of this, he pointed to the timing of the Ukrainian government's relaunch of its security operation, just after a two-day visit to Ukraine by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

"Now that Joe Biden visited Kiev, this counterterrorist operation was declared in the active phase again," he told RT.

"I don't have any reasons not to believe that the Americans are running the show in a very close way."

Lavrov added that U.S. involvement in Ukraine "is just one manifestation of the American unwillingness to yield in the geopolitical fight. Americans are not ready to admit that they cannot run the show in each and every part of the globe from Washington alone."

The crisis in Ukraine has stoked the worst East-West tensions since the end of the Cold War.

And Russia's deployment of what NATO estimates to be 40,000 troops near its border with Ukraine has made other former Soviet states nervous, prompting the United States and others to reiterate their support.

On Wednesday, a company-sized contingent of U.S. paratroopers will arrive in Swidwin, Poland, to begin exercises with Polish troops, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and Polish Defense Ministry said.

"This new exercise is the first in a series of expanded U.S. land force training activities in Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia," a statement on the embassy's website said.

"This action comes at the request of the host nations and demonstrates U.S. commitment to our collective defense responsibilities."

The military exercises are "a result of what's going on in Ukraine," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday.

Four companies of paratroopers based in Italy will be sent to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia over the next few months for military exercises, he said.

Biden visited Poland and the Baltic region last month, when he stressed that the United States was committed to the defense of its NATO allies.

Ukraine to request IMF loan

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday that the Cabinet has approved a formal request to the International Monetary Fund for a loan, which would help stabilize the economic situation in Ukraine. Yatsenyuk said he hoped to receive the answer by the end of the month.

Ukraine's dire economic situation has added to the pressures on the interim government ahead of national elections due on May 25.

Speaking in Kiev on Tuesday, Biden said he expects an IMF package for Ukraine to be finalized imminently.

He also promised U.S. support for Ukraine and stressed that the United States won't recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.

The United States also promised Tuesday an additional $50 million to support political and economic reform in Ukraine, including just over $11 million to help run the elections next month.

In another sign of international support for the government in Kiev, the Vatican said Pope Francis would meet Yatsenyuk on Saturday in Rome. The prime minister will meet afterward with the Vatican Secretary of State, Monsignor Pietro Parolin.

American journalist held

An American journalist working for Vice News is being held by pro-Russian separatists in Slaviansk, Vice News said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday.

The international channel said it is in contact with the U.S. State Department and other appropriate government authorities to secure the release of Simon Ostrovsky.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday, "We are deeply concerned about the reports of a kidnapping of a U.S. citizen journalist ... reportedly at the hands of pro-Russian separatists."

Such hostage takings violate the terms of the Geneva agreement, she said.

"We call on Russia to use its influence with these groups to secure the immediate and safe release of all hostages in eastern Ukraine," Psaki added.

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